For the past year, I've been working sporadically on a series of Meadow images to use as tapestries in children's rooms. I seem to gravitate to a soft, rather English watercolor effect in this type of illustration.

As the oldest of 4 sisters, I was read to a lot, and I always loved the Beatrix Potter illustrations and my book of poems by Robert Louis Stevenson. Their images have colored my imagination ever since. With this in mind, I created this series titled, Come to the Meadow. The meadow day starts with Morning Meadow, then Noon, then Twilight and finally the Midnight Meadow.

This Meadow series was also inspired by my Grandparent's farm in the Pacific Northwest. I loved everything about the farm, especially the acre of meadow grass behind the orchard. It sloped down to the river, and the grass was so high that my grandpa Carl had to swing me up on his shoulders so we could go down together to the river to fish.The meadow was a delicious tangle of timothy grass, buttercups, clover, butterflies, and, best of all to a child from the eastern part of Washington, NO rattlesnakes.

One of the challenges with displaying paintings is the framing, matting and protective glass or plexiglass. It's expensive and time consuming. I wanted to create something affordable that wouldn't have to be framed and could be rolled up easily and mailed in a tube, all ready to unpack and put up immediately in a child's room.

I also wanted to create a series, where the parent could choose one or all of the series for the child's room. Murals are great, and I do murals for kids on canvas that I apply like wallpaper to the walls (which can be removed with eight pounds of pressure,) but even then it's a project to repaint a wall after removing a mural.

However, this particular tapestry concept is perfect for American contemporary life. Whether the nursery is part of a rental, an apartment or a home owned by the parent, it's easy to decorate a child's room with a Carrasco tapestry. Two hangers or finish nails in the wall, two bows tied (with or without a rod,) and done!

Each tapestry is a print of an original Carrasco painting on heavy canvas. Each is fitted with two burnished brass grommets at the top and each grommet is threaded with two feet of soft green grograin ribbon. The tapestry then can be hung from decorative hangers or antique brass curtain rods (available as a sale option)

I am also preparing an even more affordable series of the same images printed in different sizes on archival paper and also will feature some original watercolors. I'll send out announcements when these paper prints are available. Let me know if you are interested at jennifer@carrascostudio.com and I'll "put you on my list" (but only if you ask!) These images on printed paper will range in price from $25 to $45, and will come in sleeves, and will be matted and mounted on archival mat board.